Spiderman: Reaching The Darkness
by Omnitrix 12
Summary: When a typical night takes an unexpected twist, Spiderman discovers someone battling the same demons as he once did... and losing.


A cold wind blew through the New York suburb. Black candles could be seen flickering in the shadows behind one of the houses. A moment later, the candles were extinguished and darkness filled the yard as thirteen black-cloaked figures stood in a circle around a cocker spaniel that lay tied up and muzzled at their feet. The dog stared up in terror and confusion as one of the figures held a knife over it.

"Do it," whispered the tallest figure to the one holding the knife.

The hand holding the knife shook. "I can't," it hissed back.

"You must, Bandar. The woman mistreated you, and now she must pay for her insult."

"Yeah, but I can't do it. Can't we just slash her tires or something?"

"No," insisted the tall figure. "We must have a sacrifice. It's either the dog, or the woman."

The dog let out a whine, and the hand moved toward the tall figure. "You do it first. I can't."

"You know better than that, Bandar. You have to be the first one to strike."

"Hey, don't you know it's 'Be Kind To Animals Week?'" asked a voice above their heads.

All thirteen heads looked up in surprise to see a shadowy figure on the wall above them. "Besides," the speaker added, jumping off the wall and doing a flip before landing behind them, "It's kinda early to be dressing up for Halloween."

"Spider-man!" gasped one of the figures.

The hero looked from side to side. "Where?" he asked. Then he looked down at his suit. "Oh, me? I'm just the mailman. Here, I've got a package for ya." He launched a web, which wrapped itself around the tallest figure. A jerk on the line brought the target down on his face. "But since you're tied up at the moment, I'll just drop it off."

The leader struggled against the sticky bonds. "Don't just stand there!" he urged. "Get him!"

The other figures drew knives and rushed at Spider-man. _A dozen to one? Now that's not very fair,_ thought the hero. He caught the first figure with his foot and heaved it back, sending it crashing into one of the others. There was a sound like two bricks colliding as skull met skull, and both of the figures collapsed. _Ten to one? Even worse,_ thought the masked marvel. Another figure leaped at him before a fist under the chin sent it to the ground. The fourth one to attack tripped over the third in the darkness and stayed down, courtesy of a shot of webbing. "Man, this isn't even a fight anymore," taunted Spider-man as he brought them down one after another. The eleventh one stood back and threw its knife at the masked marvel, hoping to get him from a distance.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with knives?" quipped the wall-crawler as he intercepted the knife with a web, swung it over his head, and released it so it went flying and stuck quivering in a tree. He fired another web, catching the unarmed attacker in the chest and yanking it in close. "Have a nice trip," he remarked as he kicked its feet out from under it. "I could say see you next fall, but I'll leave it alone," he added as he webbed the black-clad assassin to the ground. "Now where's the last one?" he asked, peering into the surrounding shadows.

To his surprise, the last one was still standing over by the dog with the knife still in its hand. The black cloak made it impossible to tell if it was facing toward him or away from him. "Okay, pal," Spider-man said to the figure. "Put down the knife, nice and easy."

To his surprise, the figure threw the knife down at his feet before falling trembling to its knees. "I give up," it said, sounding choked. "Do whatever you want, but I give up."

Spider-man raised an eyebrow, although his mask hid the expression. "Uh, that's not how bad guys are supposed to talk," he said. "You're supposed to say something like, 'Not a chance, web-slinger!' and then come running at me and get your clock cleaned like the rest of your pals."

The figure's shoulders began to shake. "I didn't want to," it insisted. It pointed to the other figures. "They said I had to do it."

"Destroy him, you…" hissed the leader before a shot of webbing closed his mouth.

"Okay, pal," said Spider-man, stepping forward, "what's your game here, huh?"

Just then the floodlights came on and an old woman stepped out the back door. "What in heaven's name is going on out here?" she asked.

Spider-man picked up the dog and snapped the ropes holding it. "Offhand, I'd say some kinda cult," he answered as the dog ran to its mistress. "You'd better call the police and tell them about it. And call an ambulance while you're at it. One or two of them might have gotten hit a little hard in their heads." Shrugging, he added, "Not that there's much to worry about up there in the first place."

The woman nodded firmly. "I should say not!" She bent down to hug her dog. "There, there, it's alright, girl," she said soothingly. Then she stood up. "Thank you, Spider-man."

A tell-tale tingling in his brain told Spider-man that the remaining member was making a break for it. "Not so fast, buddy," he called, spinning around and snaring the figure with a web. Reeling in his catch, he told the woman, "Just report these twelve bozos to the police, ma'am. I'll take care of this one myself."

The woman nodded and stepped back into the house. Spider-man took the figure by the back of the cloak and told it, "As for you, you're not going anywhere until we've had a talk."

"Can we do it somewhere else?"

"Why not here?"

The figure seemed to hesitate. "I just really don't want to be here right now."

Spider-man shrugged. "Fine by me." With that, he jumped to the wall and then to the roof, hauling the figure behind him like it weighed nothing at all. It started screaming as he tucked it under one arm and jumped with it from roof to roof like a mad kangaroo.

"Where are you taking me?" it asked.

"Somewhere else," he replied as they drew close to the main road. He jumped onto the roof of a passing delivery truck and rode it all the way into the city.

"Do you always travel like this?" asked the figure once it had stopped screaming and gotten its breath back.

"Hey, it's not as fun as web-swinging, but it beats taking a cab."

_I'm traveling with a lunatic,_ thought the figure.

When they got into the city, Spider-man snatched up the figure and jumped onto the wall of a building.

"Can't we do this on the ground?" pleaded his passenger.

"What, and miss the view?" Spider-man quickly ascended to the roof, where he stopped and set his passenger down. "Now, what were you and those clowns back there doing, trying to kill that woman's dog?"

The figure pulled off its hood and removed the black mesh covering its face. Spider-man blinked in surprise. "You're just a kid!" he exclaimed. The figure, which he could now see was a boy, had sandy-colored hair, freckles, and couldn't have been older than twelve. "What's a kid your age doing with a bunch of goons like that?"

"They're all about my age," the boy replied. "Even Jared's only fifteen."

"Jared?" asked Spider-man. "You mean the big one?"

"Yeah, he's our leader. He goes by Jared, but when we're doing our rituals we're supposed to call him Drago."

"So what's your name?"

"Bandar."

"Your _real_ name, pal. You _do _have one, right?"

The kid looked at him balefully. "Sean," he answered.

Spider-man squatted down to look Sean in the eye. "So what were you guys doing, anyway?"

"That old lady is my aunt. She said I had to stop hanging around with my coven, so we were going to sacrifice her dog."

Spider-man snorted. "Boy, that sounds reasonable," he remarked sarcastically.

"I didn't want to do it," protested Sean, "but Jared said I had to."

"Kid, why would you hang out with those low-lifes anyway?"

Sean shrugged. "They were my friends."

"Sounds like you should pick some new ones."

"I tried," Sean insisted, "But they were the only ones who would accept me. All my life, everyone's always been picking on me. Then Jared came and told me they needed a thirteenth member for their group. He said he could teach me how to make people do what I wanted, and he promised to help me get in touch with my parents."

"Your parents?" Spider-man was confused. "Where are your parents?"

"Same place they've been since I was five," replied Sean. "The cemetery."

Spider-man winced. "Ouch," he whispered. "How'd it happen?"

"Car accident," Sean replied. "The other driver was drunk."

"Oh, I see. So this Jared guy promised to help you contact their spirits or something?"

Sean nodded. "And he said he could make other kids stop picking on me."

Spider-man shook his head. "I know how you feel, kid."

Sean was surprised. "You do?"

"Yeah, my folks died when I was really little. Then a burglar shot my Uncle, who was the only dad I ever really had growing up." He stared off into space as he said, "I'd give anything to see them again."

"Whoa, guess even superheroes have problems, huh?"

"More than you can imagine, kid."

"But you've got all kinds of powers. You can solve your problems, right?"

"What, you think this is going to bring back my uncle?" asked Spider-man, shooting a strand of webbing into the empty air. "Or my parents?"

Sean looked embarrassed. "Guess I never thought of it that way," he muttered.

"Let me tell you something, kid. Power isn't everything. You can't take the easy route to getting it, and you have to use it right once you've got it." After a long pause he added, "This Jared kid was just using you, Sean. You can't control your whole world."

"That's not true!" protested Sean. "He said I'm really talented. I'm still just in the practice stage, but I can already control animals and stuff just by thinking it. I even…" he trailed off.

"Even made the dog hold still while you tied it up?" guessed Spider-man.

Sean nodded.

"Kid, you've got to get out of that coven before you join them in JD or worse. What if that dog had been a person? What would you have done then?"

Sean stared at the ground, remembering Jared's words about the dog or his aunt. "I've been thinking about quitting for a while now, but I just can't." He was silent for a long time. "I guess maybe I'm hooked on the power."

Spider-man stared at the boy thoughtfully. "You know, I had an experience a lot like what you're going through."

Sean looked incredulous. "Yeah, right."

"No, really." Spider-man sat down next to Sean and stared off at the nighttime lights of New York City. "Did you ever hear about the time I saved the crew from a space shuttle that crashed on a bridge?"

Sean shook his head. "No, I never heard of that one."

"Well, I got into a fight with this guy called the Rhino, and he knocked me into the Hudson. When I got out I found this black, slimy blob on my suit. I figured it was just river pollution or something, but it turned out to be this liquid that, crazy as it sounds, made itself into a new costume for me."

Sean sneered. "You're making this up."

"Oh, no I'm not. The suit was unbelievable. It gave me amazing powers, even more than what I've usually got. I never ran out of web, I could jump higher and run faster than ever, it enhanced my spider-sense, and as for strength, hoo-wee! I could lift a garbage truck easy. And because the suit was liquid, I could make it look like any outfit I wanted just by thinking about it."

Sean stared at him. "Do you still have it?"

Spider-man waved a hand dismissively. "No, and good riddance."

Sean was stunned. "But why would you throw away that kind of power?"

"Well, I discovered that the suit came with some side effects. For one thing, I was a lot more aggressive than usual. You remember those pals of yours I decked back there?"

Sean nodded.

"Well, I got them all just by flicking my wrist. If I gave them a real punch they'd never get up again. I always save my real punches for guys who can handle them, like Gobby or Doc Ock."

"So what's that got to do with the suit?"

"Well, like I said, it gave me a bit of a nasty temper. So bad that several times I almost lost it on ordinary people. Imagine what just one real punch could've done with the strength the suit gave me."

Sean's eyes went wide at the thought. "It would have been like something in a horror movie."

Spider-man nodded. "And that wasn't even the worst part. I took the suit to a friend of mine to get it analyzed, and it turned out it was alive! It was some kind of alien symbiote that must have hitched a ride on the shuttle."

"What's a symbiote?"

"It's a life-form that thrives by being close to – or in this case bonding with – a host organism. Namely me."

"Okay, so you had a hitch-hiker from another planet. What's wrong with that?"

"Well, the symbiote wanted to do more than bond. It wanted to take over."

"Take over?"

"Right. As long as it was on me, it was slowly working its way into my mind and body. If I hadn't ditched the thing, it would have replaced me altogether."

Sean let out a low whistle. "Yikes," he whispered. "But you got rid of it, and now you're back to normal, right?"

"_I_ may be," Spidey replied, "but that wasn't the end of the story. The symbiote wasn't happy about being forced off. So it found someone who hated me as much as it did, bonded with him, and it's been on my case ever since. That's where my worst enemy, Venom, came from."

"Venom?"

"Nasty guy. He's got all my powers, his bite is toxic, and he doesn't show up on my spider-sense because he's got some of my DNA."

Sean still didn't seem to follow. "So what's all this Venom stuff got to do with me?"

Spiderman shrugged. "Maybe this'll help you put it together. When my friend told me about the symbiote and what it would do to me if I didn't get rid of it, I ignored him. He told me to get it off, but I wouldn't listen until it… until _I_ almost killed someone. By then, it was almost too late to get rid of it."

"But your friend told you what it was doing. Why didn't you take it off then?"

Spider-man gave Sean such a pointed look that the kid could sense it even through the mask. "Maybe I was hooked on the power."

"Okay, okay, I get the picture." He sat in silence for a long time before he spoke again. "But what should I do?"

"Well, the first step is to get out of that group and get your life back. You should also tell your aunt that you tried to kill her dog."

Sean's eyes widened. "But I can't do that! Do you have any idea what she'll do to me?"

"If she knows you're mixed in with a cult, I'll bet she's already put two and two together. Either way, could she do anything worse than what you're already doing to yourself?"

Sean had to admit that Spider-man had him there. "But if I quit the coven, they'll kill me." He looked at the wall-crawler and added, "Literally."

"That brings us to step three: tell the police about what the other guys were doing."

"If I do that, they'll arrest me too."

"Maybe, but at least then you'll be safe from the rest of that coven." Putting a comforting hand on the youth's shoulder, he added, "And if it gets tight, I'll swing by and put in a good word for you. Besides, the cops go easy on kids, especially kids who cooperate."

Sean nodded slowly. "Okay, so how do I get my life back?"

In response, Spider-man stood up. "It's closer than you think, kid."

Sean stood and followed Spider-man to the edge of the roof. There, right across the street, stood a gray stone building dwarfed by the tall buildings around it. A pair of tall oak doors were at its front, and light streamed out of it through stained-glass windows. "A church?"

"Exacta-mundo." There was a _thwip _sound as Spider-man fired a web across the street, and then he grabbed Sean with one arm. "Hold on," he warned as he jumped off the side of the building. The two of them landed easily (despite narrowly avoiding encounters with two trucks and a taxi at the bottom of the swing) and Spider-man let Sean down on the steps of the church. They stood in silence for a minute, ignoring the stares of passers-by as they listened to the sound of the pastor's sermon coming from inside. "Here's your stop," Spider-man announced.

Sean looked up at him. "Do you think you could come in with me?" he asked. He gestured at his black robes. "I don't think I could handle going in alone dressed like this."

No expression penetrated the mask, but there was a smile in the hero's voice. "Relax, bud. From here on in it's just you and the Big Guy. What people think of your outfit doesn't mean a thing. Besides, how do you think they'll react if I walk in dressed like this?"

Sean laughed, the first real laugh to exit his lips in years. "Thanks, Spider-man," he said quietly. "Thanks for everything."

"Anytime." The wall-crawler turned and for the first time noticed the crowd of people who stood staring at the odd sight of a superhero talking to a kid who looked like he'd just been thrown out of Hogwarts. "It's OK, folks. He just didn't have the money for a cab." He turned and bent down to look Sean in the eye. "Remember," he told him, "Choosing your future is a great power. And with great power comes great responsibility." Spider-man fired a pair of webs at the roof of a building across the street and pulled them tight, stepping back and stretching them to their limit. "See you arounnndd!" he called to Sean as he released his feet and flew into the night sky.

Sean waved. "Bye, Spider-man!" he called. Then he turned, took a deep breath, and walked up the steps.

**Author's Note:** This story is based on true facts as I have learned them from learning about real-world occult activities. Although the specific characters and situation are fictional, Sean is in some sense as real as you or I. He is every one of the countless teenagers out there today who are drawn to the occult. Some do it because of some tragedy in their pasts. Some do it for control. But nearly all of them do it, in one way or another, out of loneliness just like Sean did. A vast number of teens, preteens, and even little kids become involved in practices like those of Sean's coven because they feel alone and want to belong, a need which is shared by all but felt in the young as acutely as their needs for air or water. Most of these youth don't start out wanting to be cruel or evil. Some of them even try to find a way out, but find that even priests and pastors will not show them the way (the saddest error any Christian can commit). Most of the time, they don't want to hurt anyone. They just want to fit in and to feel important. So my character Sean is not really my character at all. He is every lost child, every stray lamb, every broken and misguided youth who tries to find their way and chooses the wrong path.

To reinforce this, I named Sean after a real person named Sean Sellers, who became involved with the occult through the game _Dungeons and Dragons_. Unlike the Sean in my story, Sean Sellers sadly did not have any timely interruption from a superhero like Spider-man, nor from regular people even when he tried to find it. Sean Sellers did not turn from his occult activities until after he had performed three human sacrifices, the latter two being his own mother and stepfather. Like the Sean in my story, he did these things out of a wish to control his uncontrollable world. But in the end he lost control even of himself, and was arrested and sentenced to death for his crimes. Thankfully, however, he eventually converted to Christianity and spent the last twelve years of his life ministering from prison, trying to prevent other troubled teens from going down the same path. He was eventually executed for his three murders at the age of 29 by lethal injection, and died pleading to the relatives of his victims to turn to God, the only one who could prevent them from living the rest of their lives in hate.

I never met Sean, although I have every expectation of meeting him in the hereafter. From what little I do know about him, I doubt he was very interested in Spider-man. But I'm sure he would appreciate this story, and I thought it only fitting to include some memory of the person whose story largely inspired me to do whatever I could to confront the occult. I pray that this brief tale will help to stop others from falling into the trap which held him for so many years. Maybe you have benefited from this story in some way. I hope so. But if you didn't, that doesn't mean it has to go to waste. If you know someone who might benefit from this story, whether by being motivated to get out or stay out of the occult or by being encouraged to help others do so, please show them this story. It is my fervent prayer that you have enjoyed and been encouraged by my writing.

God be with you all.


End file.
